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Shvoong Home>Books>Novels & Novellas>Ratan Babu and That Man Review

Ratan Babu and That Man

Article Review   by:judd     Original Author: Satyajit Ray
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Ratanlal Majumdar, a clerk in the Calcutta office of Geological survey, loved to travel in remote places no one ever heard of. Though he could only manage to go out of Calcutta once a year in the time of puja, this was no exception when he visited Shini, as suggested by a colleague of his. He stayed at Mahamaya hotel and as a part of his tour routine, he took a walk in the afternoon, he enjoyed the sight of uneven terrains, pond with water lilies growing in it with a large variety of birds. On the second day, he took a different path in hope of discovering something new, and he did. He saw a wooden bridge, he stood there and to the east he could see a railway station. The very thought of train passing underneath and giving vibrations to the bridge thrilled him. After sometime he notices a man standing beside him who had an uncanny resemblance. Same dressing style, same facial features, they were all strikingly identical. Even his name, Manilal Majumdar, sounded similar to his. The only difference was that Manilal was a shade fairer than Ratanlal. After talking for some time, Ratanlal realized that just like him, Manilal was also in Dhuliyan last year, he also goes for trips on every puja, alone, without any friends, and shockingly he was also told about Shini by a colleague of his. On the way back, Ratan learnt that his home was in Calcutta and he worked in a trading company, their salaries are even exactly same and both had received exactly the same Puja bonus. These thoughts did not allow him to sleep properly at night. The next day when he met him, Manilal told him that he could not sleep all night, he just thought about how similar they were to each other.

The thought of them being almost similar actually made Ratan more insecure when they were he heard comments from the public about calling them Tweedledum and Tweedledee. So he decided to kill Manilal. He took Manilal to the bridge and pushed him from the railing. The next day when the dead body was found, it was estimated to be a suicide. Ratanlal felt relieved and had a sound sleep that night. No more thoughts of them being identical or so haunted him. The next day he went to the bridge for enjoying the underneath approaching train for the last time. When the train arrived he suddenly felt someone is standing behind him, he looked back but there was no one, he again looked at the train, and felt a push from behind, he was thrown down the bridge by no one.

Published: July 03, 2012   
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